Climb Every Mountain
by Aiwritingfic
Summary: Tezuka Kuniharu teaches his son to climb mountains and scale greater heights. Tezuka Kunikazu, Tezuka Kuniharu, 600 words, G.


First posted to Apples For Me on August 17, 2008.

**Title**: Climb Every Mountain  
**Characters**: Tezuka Kuniharu, Tezuka Kunimitsu  
**Words/Rating**: 600+ words / G  
**Summary**: Tezuka Kuniharu teaches his son to climb mountains and scale greater heights.  
**Beta**: **readerofasaph**  
**Author's Notes**: **thephoenixboy** stumped me at a private guess-the-line game, so here's the promised drabble! Only the drabble somehow turned into 600+ words. Prompt: Tezuka, philosophy. I need to stop playing these games. At well over 100 fics (almost 180 entries), this is a losing proposition, as this drabble clearly proves.

* * *

As Tezuka Kuniharu stepped out of the climber's lift, he looked behind to see his son looking a little apprehensively up at the path before them. "Kunimitsu?" His son turned towards him, and Kuniharu knelt, setting his backpack down. "Come here, let me adjust your straps."

Obediently, Kunimitsu complied, gaze returning to the mountain. Kuniharu felt his chest swell a little with what he suspected was misplaced fatherly pride. It wasn't as if he had any hand in making the mountain before him what it was today, but to see his son so enthralled lifted his spirits. "So, what do you think of the mountain, Kunimitsu? Isn't it beautiful?"

His son turned towards him for a few seconds, and then looked back at the mountain. "It's very tall."

Kuniharu smiled. "That's why we're climbing it."

"Because it's tall?"

Kuniharu laughed and nodded, patting his son's head lightly. "Because it's a tall mountain, and climbing it will teach us something."

"Oh."

Kunimitsu's brows were furrowed in the same way they had when Ayana had found him staring at the water draining out of the bath. Kuniharu tugged on a strap that didn't need tightening and looked at Kunimitsu's fingers digging into his little palms. Perhaps it was paternal instinct that made Kuniharu take one of those hands into his own. Kunimitsu's hand, normally warm, was cold and clammy. "Is something wrong?" Kuniharu asked.

Kunimitsu shook his head but didn't shift his gaze.

Climber's intuition was responsible for the next question. Kuniharu patted his son's head. "Kunimitsu, look at me." He was gratified to finally be the focus of those eyes again. "Be honest with your father. Are you afraid?"

Kunimitsu's eyes widened. Then slowly, he nodded, looking down at the ground.

Kuniharu squeezed his son's fist. "Why look away?"

The answer was low but distinct. "I don't want to be afraid."

Resisting the urge to smile, Kuniharu said, "It's all right to be."

His son looked up at him, too-serious eyes in a child's face. _Please let me always be here for him._ "It's all right to be," Kuniharu repeated, patting his son's hand. "Inside all of us is a little demon who is a coward, a traitor, and a liar, who wants nothing but to eat, sleep, and grow fat. I don't like people like that, and neither do your mother or grandfather. Do you?"

Kunimitsu shook his head almost violently, bringing a smile to Kuniharu's face.

"What does your mother tell you to do when faced with bad people?"

Kunimitsu's face turned resolute. "Run away," he said firmly.

In that moment, Kunimitsu was so like Ayana that Kuniharu felt a pang of love for his better half. She'd taught their son so well. "And where do you run when he's inside you?"

From Kunimitsu's expression, it was clear the child was trying hard to think of an answer. Kuniharu counted silently to ten. Kunimitsu's brow furrowed even deeper on the count of seven, and Kuniharu chuckled at his son's perplexity. "You can't run. You can only fight him. But it takes practice."

Kunimitsu looked back up at the mountain again before turning to Kuniharu, brow furrowed even more. "He doesn't like high places?"

With a laugh, Kuniharu ruffled Kunimitsu's hair, soft and tousled by the light mountain breeze. "He doesn't like challenges." He watched as his son turned towards the mountain again, and he let go of the boy's hand. Kunimitsu stayed where he was, looked at his father, and then took a step towards manhood.


End file.
